DAYTON -- Dayton kicks off the 2025 conference schedule at the Belk Arena in Davidson, N.C. against the Wildcats on Sept. 26-27.
First serve of Friday's match will be at 7 p.m. Saturday's matinee will take place at 2 p.m. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.
FLYER INVITATIONAL RECAP
After three weekends on the road, UD returned to the Frericks Center for the Flyer Invitational. Dayton hosted Illinois State, RV UCSB and Wright State, going 2-1. The Flyers won their home opener against the Gauchos in four sets, splitting Saturday's matches with a sweep against Illinois State and dropping to Wright State in three sets.
Kamryn Hunt and Liana Sarkissian earned All-Tournament team selection with Hunt getting the MVP distinction. Hunt led Dayton with 37 kills. With a .299 attack percentage, she also tallied two aces, eight digs and three block assists. Sarkissian paced the Flyers with a .357 attack percentage, recording 22 kills, three aces, 11 digs, three solo blocks and six block assists.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED
Last weekend, Liana Sarkissian crossed 500 career kills in Friday night's win over UCSB. The senior is currently second on the team in kills with 85 and is averaging 2.24 kills per set.
Additionally, Sarkissian leads the Atlantic 10 in hitting percentage with .360. Her hitting percentage is also No. 100 in the country.
DIGGING IT
Karissa Kaminski has 1,420 career digs, inching closer to the 1,500 mark. She is also 26 digs away from fifth in program history in career digs, currently held by Cindy Moffitt.
The senior libero is third in the conference is digs per set (4.28) and total digs with 107.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
The Wildcats finished their non-conference schedule 5-5, defeating Duke and falling to Appalachian State in last weekend's Appalachian State Invitational. Davidson was selected third in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll back in August.
Elena Garcia-Guerrios was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week after posting a career-high 26 kills against App State, the most for the 'Cats since 2021. She leads Davidson with 145 kills and 10 service aces. Cayla Weisner was named Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 8 and is currently second on the team with 24 blocks. Reigning Libero of the Year Jordan Hummel leads the A10 with 160 digs.
LAST MEETING
The Flyers have won the last six meetings against the Wildcats, sweeping Davidson in each win. The two teams last met in last year's Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament, where the Flyers swept the 'Cats to advance to the Championship match.
Lexie Almodovar led Dayton with 14 kills with Liana Sarkissian right behind her with 13. Sarkissian tallied two aces and two block assists. Head coach Tim Horsmon earned his 400th win at Dayton against Davidson during the regular season last year.
UP NEXT
Dayton will have a mid-week matchup against Duquesne on Tuesday, Sept. 30, before returning home to host Fordham on Oct. 3-4.
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